Airbus has told its staff that a vote to leave the EU could choke off future investment in the UK.
Airbus, which employs 15,000 people in the UK to design and manufacture aircraft wings, said it was committed to its British operations regardless of the referendum result. But it said a vote to leave could make it rethink future decisions about where to invest the group’s money. In a letter signed by six senior Airbus executives, the company said: “We simply don’t know what ‘out’ looks like.”
The aerospace giant’s letter came as a survey of Lloyd’s insurance workers found an overwhelming majority believe a British exit would be bad for the country’s £60bn insurance industry, and the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange gave vocal support for the EU.
The letter said: “Should the British electorate have a different view then clearly we wouldn’t cease our activities in the UK, which are highly important and very prominent. However, our business model is entirely based on our ability to move products, people and ideas around Europe without any restriction and we do not believe leaving will increase the competitiveness of our British-based operations. We all need to keep in the back of our minds that future investments depend very much on the economic environment in which the company operates.”
Airbus UK designs and engineers wings for aircraft, including the giant A380 “superjumbo”, at a facility in Filton, south Gloucestershire. The wings are made on the Welsh side of the border with England, at Broughton, near Chester.
Airbus estimates that its wing operations support about 100,000 jobs through the supply chain.
http://www.theguardian.com/business...utives-brexit-warning-letter-uk-eu?CMP=twt_gu
Airbus, which employs 15,000 people in the UK to design and manufacture aircraft wings, said it was committed to its British operations regardless of the referendum result. But it said a vote to leave could make it rethink future decisions about where to invest the group’s money. In a letter signed by six senior Airbus executives, the company said: “We simply don’t know what ‘out’ looks like.”
The aerospace giant’s letter came as a survey of Lloyd’s insurance workers found an overwhelming majority believe a British exit would be bad for the country’s £60bn insurance industry, and the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange gave vocal support for the EU.
The letter said: “Should the British electorate have a different view then clearly we wouldn’t cease our activities in the UK, which are highly important and very prominent. However, our business model is entirely based on our ability to move products, people and ideas around Europe without any restriction and we do not believe leaving will increase the competitiveness of our British-based operations. We all need to keep in the back of our minds that future investments depend very much on the economic environment in which the company operates.”
Airbus UK designs and engineers wings for aircraft, including the giant A380 “superjumbo”, at a facility in Filton, south Gloucestershire. The wings are made on the Welsh side of the border with England, at Broughton, near Chester.
Airbus estimates that its wing operations support about 100,000 jobs through the supply chain.
http://www.theguardian.com/business...utives-brexit-warning-letter-uk-eu?CMP=twt_gu
